(Andy Synn is playing catch-up in a furious torrent, with brief reviews and streams of music from 12 striking 2017 albums. Open wide… dine like queens and kings.)

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again (and again)… the vast array of music now available at the touch of a button is both a blessing and a curse, depending on how you look at it.

And while I generally celebrate the fact that I’m now able to search out and discover music from all around the world with an ease that’s quite mind-boggling when you think about it, the sheer plethora of albums clamouring for my attention means there’s simply not enough hours in the day to give them all the attention they deserve.

As a consequence of this, my “to do” list has swollen to a frankly rather distressing size over the last 4-5 months, so I’ve made an executive decision to clear my slate a little bit by pulling together twelve albums, which we’ve thus far failed to cover properly here at NCS, into one collective round-up.

Red Moon Architect are a melodic doom metal band who make their home in what has been described as Finland’s gloomiest town, Kouvola. Their debut album Concealed Silence was released in 2012, and today marks the release of their new album Fall via Playground Music. To help introduce you to the music of the new album, we’re pleased to bring you the premiere of an official music video for the new album’s second track, “Betrayed”.

“Betrayed” is cavernous and vast, the kind of crushing music that finds beauty in misery and truth in despair. Anchored by titanic riffs that move at the pace of a wounded leviathan and powerful drum strikes, the song is a striking contrast, its melody as captivating as it is forlorn.Continue reading »